Top 10 Lehigh Valley theater productions of 2012

Tim Brown of Macungie, plays Father Flynn during a reheasal of the play "Doubt"… (DOUGLAS KILPATRICK, SPECIAL…)

December 26, 2012|Myra Yellin Outwater, Special to the Morning Call

With the advent of so many new companies, new directors and new actors, the local theater scene has never been as intriguing, varied or technically inventive. This year's top 10 salutes new faces, cheers on the veterans and shows my gratitude for so many polished productions of old and new classics.

MUSICALS

1. I love Broadway show dancing and Muhlenberg College's production of "On the Town" (October) was filled with some of the best ensemble dancing I have seen on an area stage. Karen Dearborn has been choreographing dance for Muhlenberg productions for years and her re-imagining of the physicality and graceful agility of Jerome Robbins' original choreography made this show stand out.

2. Act 1's "I Love a Piano" (October) showcased the genius of another American theater legend, Irving Berlin, and the work of DeSales choreographer Stephen Casey. Casey and director Anne Lewis created a fast-paced visual history of 20th century American show music. Casey's dancers effortlessly fast-stepped their way through the "Quick Step," Turkey Trot," "The Bear' and that all-time favorite, the Charleston. Student designers James Raymond and Allison Newhard created a glamorous sophisticated set with fluted, scalloped draperies, a magical pathway of black and white piano keys and glowing atmospheric lighting.

3. DeSales director Dennis Razze has become known as a master for creating Broadway musicals. Together with Stephen Casey's stylish, and inventive choreography and a sensational student cast, the Act 1 production of "Anything Goes" (April) was joyful, exuberant and great fun. Will Neuert's streamlined Art Deco ship design set the scene for 20th century luxury, especially Lord Evelyn's mauve and blue sitting room, and the dazzlingly ship nightclub. Amy Best's costumes were sexy and made for dancing, especially the glittering breathtakingly and beautiful costumes for "Blow, Gabriel, Blow."

4. The Pennsylvania Playhouse found a new star with Casey Elizabeth Gill, who played the title role in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (March) and director Will Erwin. Gill was a sparkling, energetic dynamo who seduced the audience with her charisma and belted out her songs with energetic abandon. Erwin gave this Tony Award winning musical spoof of the 1920s a smart, sleek look with his stylish pseudo Art Deco set and his minimalist use of props — seven chairs, a desk and a rolling bar.

DRAMA

5. Pennsylvania Playhouse's Ralph Montesano's tight and insightful direction of John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play "Doubt: A Parable" (June) was superb as was his staging of this multi-scene drama. Tim Brown was powerful as the idealistic and sincere Father Flynn. Kathy Patterson was the perfect antagonist as the rigid, self-righteous Sister Aloysius and Kelly-Anne Rohrbach as Sister James and Felecia White as Mrs. Muller completed this fine cast.

6. Act 1 founder Father Gerard J. Schubert came out of retirement to direct Joseph Kesselring's classic 1941 madcap comedy "Arsenic and Old Lace" (September) at DeSales University. This is definitely a period piece, but under Schubert's professional and nuanced direction it was still exciting to watch the murderous fantasy unfold on stage. Katie Wilson and Emiley Kiser were inspired choices to play Martha and Abby Brewster, the two merry murderesses. Amy Best's period costuming added to their fanciful appearance.

7. Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge" (February) is seldom attempted on regional stages. But Act 1 director Anne Lewis' staging of this story of forbidden love and smoldering, repressed lust was a compelling look into a Sicilian-American conclave in Red Hook underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1950s. DeSales sophomore Brett Lawlor successfully carried the burden of the plot as Eddie, a hardworking Italian-American longshoreman consumed by an illicit passion for his young niece. Adrianna Pia Stigliano played Bea, his loving but weary wife, who helplessly watches her husband's unhealthy obsession grow. Will Neuert's extraordinary stage scrim of a working-class house on a cobbled street was a brilliant metaphor for this play, which explores the ugly truths behind the illusion of family honor.